The present invention relates to a silver halide photographic material. More particularly, the present invention relates to a silver halide color photographic material that is adapted for rapid processing without experiencing increased fogging and which is capable of producing an image having improved sharpness and granularity.
With the recent tendency in the photographic industry toward adoption of smaller formats of silver halide color photographic materials (hereinafter referred to simply as color light-sensitive materials), there has been an increasing need for attaining high image quality in terms of such aspects as granularity and sharpness on the one hand, and for realizing rapid processing on the other hand. Color light-sensitive materials are normally processed on a running basis with automatic developers that are installed at photofinishing laboratories. However, the desire of users for having their pictures developed as soon as possible is constantly growing and most modern laboratories have facilities for developing negative films and returning the developed films to users on the day they received the negatives. Some laboratories are even capable of returning the finished films within several hours from the time they were received.
Various studies have been conducted to realize rapid photographic processing. With a view to shortening the duration of a color development step, it has been proposed that the concentration of a color developing agent should be increased, or the pH of a color developer be increased, or the temperature of the color developer be increased. An attempt has also been made to reduce the overall thickness of photographic constituent layers in order to improve the permeability of processing solutions and to provide better sharpness. However, these methods suffer the disadvantage that they cause a noticeable increase in fogging and, in particular, if they are applied to color negatives of high sensitivity, they cause various problems including prolonged print time subsequent to photographic processing, loss of color balance, and deterioration of granularity.